Sighting-drill system and device



Sept 29 1192420 25%,223

J. G. WINTER SIGHTING DRILL SYSTEM AND DEVICE mm: may 1, 1922 2 swam-31mg 1 Sept 2,, mm 115M223 J. G. WINTER SIGHTING DRILL SYSTEM AND DEVICE Filed May 31 1922 2 Shamis-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 2, 1924.

UNITED STATES JOHN a. mans, or weco, rrnxas.

SIGHTING- DRILL SYSTEM AND DEVICE.

Application filed May 81, 1922. Serial No. 564,812.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN G. WINTER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Waco, county of McLennan, and State of Texas, have invented an Improvement in Sighting-Drill Systems and Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The subject of this invention is a'sighting drill system and device'therefor, desi ned for use in instructing soldiers and others unfamiliar with the use of fire arms in the si hting of a rifle or other fire arm.

In teac ing recruits the use of fire arms one of the first courses of instructions is the proper sighting of the rifle as proper sightmgr is essential to accuracy in aiming.

he soldier must' be made familiar with the picture presented by the rifle sights and target when the eye, the rear sight, the front sight and the target are .in correct alinement.

Heretofore the correct appearance of the rifle sights has been shown by means of a sighting bar, consisting of a strip of wood about 20 inches long to which are attached small pieces of tin out to .represent the front sight, the rear sight of the rifle and an auxiliary peep sight. The piece representing the rear sight is movable so that its position can be changed from time to time by the instructor to demonstrate to the soldier,

through the peep sight, the appearthe rear sight and front sight when the rifle is correctly and incorrectly si hted.

The si hting bar, as above describe is a crude imitation of the rifle and does not accurately show the appearance of the sights. The sighting bar does not provide means for showing the tar et as an essential part of the picture whic is presented to the eye in looking aimln The movable rear sight is not susceptib e ofadjustment during the process of aiming. The only purpose of the sighting bar is to take the lace of printed figures showing the rifle sig ts in difl'erent positions relative to the eye.

In order to ascertaln whether the soldier knows tlie appearance of the rifle sights and tar et when a correct si ht is taken, a rifle is p seed on a sand bag w ich is mounted on a tripod.- about 5 feet in height and the rifle is pointed toward a white surface about 25 feet in front of the rifle. The soldier stands some distance behind the rifle and, without touching it, looks over the sights of the rifle and directs an assistant to move a black disc back and forth over the white surface until the disc is brought to the point at which the rifle is aimed and where its position is recorded by a dot. This 0 eratlon is repeated three times. If the sig ting has been uniform in each case, the black disc will be brou ht each time to the same point. If the sighting has not been uniform three dots in eneral will be made forming the triang e of sightin With this method of instruction the soldier can not touch the rifle and consequently can not'olace his eye in correct position with reference tov the rifle sights. The eflort reuired to hold the eye steadily in line with t e sights while directing the movement of the disc is very fatiguing. This fatigue causes eye strain and con uent blurrin of the sights and finally results in the sol ier giving direction to mark when the disc is not accurately in line with the sights. By rea- I son of the yery minute angles involved in accurate aiming, neither the soldier aiming the rifle nor the assistant who is moving the disc at the command of the soldier can cor rectly estimate either the distance or direction through which the disc must be moved.

Consequently such verbal commands as Up and to the right a little or Down abouthalf an inch can not possibly give accurate results as they do not correctly convey to the assistant the soldiers estimate of the anular distance through which he wishes the iso to be moved.

The present invention has been devised with a view to remedying the above men 'tioned defective methods of instruction by providing apparatus which has, among others, t e following advantages:

Instead of the sighting bar the rifle itself is used, the eye is placed in correct position and the picture presented by the rifle sights and the target is normal and correct. Relative position of the eye and rifle sights and disc may be changed during the process of aiming so that accurate adjustment is'possible;

Means are provided for the soldier himself during the process of aiming to control and fix both the position of his eye and the disc, with reference to the rifle sights by which it can be ascertained whether or not he knows the appearance of the sights when a correct sight is taken;

The rifle is immovable with respect to the disc, except during rocess of adjusment, so that it may be held firmly against the shoulder in the normal position of aiming and the cheek can be laid a ainst the stock and the eye, in correct osition, can be held steadily in line with the. rifle sights without fatigue;

Means are provided by which the soldierv himself, while aiming the rifle, moves an auxiliary pee sight with his own hand and so is able to ring his eye directly and immediately to a point in line with the sights, and to hold his eye steadily at this point by fixing the auxiliary peep si ht in position;

eans are provided by w ich the soldier himself, while aiming the rifle moves the .disc with his own hand and so is able to bring the disc directly and immediately to a the oint in line with the si hts;

of one sighting the fire arm.

. ther In the following 'descri tion and in the drawin I have describe and illustrated convenient devices for use in carrying out my system of aiming drill, though I do not e y intend to limit myself to the use of such forms of device, as many changeswil] suggest themselves to those skilled in the "art and, I therefore limit myself only by such limitations as are indicated by the appended claims.

Illustrations of practical structures used in carrying out my invention are given in the accompanying drawin s, wherein: V

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a device constructed in accordance with the principles of my invention; s

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation;

Fig. 4 is a and marker;

mg. 5' 's a detailed perspective view of the pee sight showing the same in position on a ri e;

- .Fig. 61 is a longitudinal section of the same' I r Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7 7 of ig. 8'is a plan view of a modified form of the device. 1 Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference;

I provide-a bar orrest 10 which is shown supported on legs 11, and formed with perspective view of the discbe easil touched by one looking over the rifle sig its, and preferably at the right hand side, is a target board 18, the. front face of which may be painted white or have a sheet of white material attached thereto and on the rear face of which a sheet of white material or a miniaturetarget 19 may be secured, if desired. Straddling the target board is a forked member 20 carrying on the end of that le which extends along the front face of t e target board a bulls eye or disc 21 and on the end of the other leg which extends along the rear, face of the target board a marker 22 in the form of a sharp ointed brad or pencil. The marker 22 may be surrounded by a disc or sheet of material 23, if desired, to prevent the operator from viewing the target!boai'd adjacent the marker.

While the rest is shown supported on legs 11 it is to be understood that supporting legs are not essential as the rest may be placed directly on the round when desired to-conduct the drill wit the one receiving instruction in prone position.

In the modified for shown in Fig. 8 the rest 10 is positioned on the ound and rigidly secured in lace and t e reflector support 16 is secure on the ground in front of the rifle rest. the place of the bar 10, above referred to.

The target board and other elements are as heretofore described.

The auxiliary eep sight is hereinshown attached to the olt handle of the rifle, thou h it will be understood that the same maylie attached to any support adjacent the rifle which will hold the si ht in position to be adjusted to the rear 0 the rear rifle si ht.

he auxiliary peep sight consists of a bar or lever 22 formed with a forked and socketed end 23 ada ted to clamp over the ball of the bolt hand e 24 having a handle 25 by which the lever may be manually moved about the support. At a suitable point between the sup ort andhandle, a leaf 2 6 is secured to the ever and this leaf is-prov ded with a peep hole 27 throu h which the rifle. -sights may be viewed whi e the peep sight.

is being adjusted. The leaf 26 maybeof any desired form, the only essential bein that that portion in which the peep hole 2 is provided-will. lie in a lane substantially erpendicular'to the longitudinal axis of the ore of the fire arm when the peep sight has ice The ground thus taking been adjusted to pro on position in the rear of the rifle sights. he leaf should be located near the ball and socket joint giving a fair length of handle so that a considerable movement of the handle will cause only sli ht movement of the leaf.

efore enterin' into a discussion of the operation of the evice, a definition of terms and my analysis of the act of aiming will be given so that the description may be more readily understood.

The point of aim is the distant point at which the rifl must be aimed in order to strike the target.

The line of aim is the straight line from the eye to the point of aim.

The line of sight is the straight line passing through the rear sight and front sight of the rifle.

The point of sight is the point in front of the rifle where the line of sight intersects a distant material object.

The act of aiming consists in moving the rifle so that the line of sight is brought into coincidence with the line of aim.

With apparatus used only for instruction in sighting it is more convenient from a mechanical standpoint to fix the-rifle in a rest and move the line of aim into the line of sight. that is, the eye and point of aim are brought into the line of sight by means respectively of a movable auxiliary peep sight and a movable disc. Consequently, the act of aiming, in the present instance consists in moving the auxiliary peep sight and the disc rather than in movement of the rifle itself. This process of aiming consists of two successive steps as follows:

First: The auxiliary peep sight ismoved so that the front sight is seen in the middle of the notch of the rear sight, with the top even with the top of the notch. The eye is then in the line of sight.

Second: The disc is then moved so that it is seen immediately above the front si ht and separated from it by a fine line of sig t. The point of sight (a oint immediately below the disc) then coincides with the point of aim, the line of sight consequently coincides with the line of aim, and the rifle is aimed.

Instruction in sighting with this si hting drill device is graduated, in genera into three successive exercises as hereinafter enumerated and described but the instruction is not limited to the such three exercises.

First sighting exercise: Instruction in alinement of the eye, rear sight and front sight. The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate to the soldier the appearance of the sights when the eye is in the line of sight. In this exercise the auxiliary peep sight only is essential. The auxiliary peep sight is moved by the instructor until the change The sights of the rifle will then present a correct or normal appearance for study by the soldier who may then be required to adjust the peep sight to the proper position.

Second s1 hting exercise: Instruction in alinement o the eye, rear sight, front sight and point of aim. The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate to the soldier the appearance of the rear sight, front sight and disc when both the eye and point of aim are in the line of sight. In this exercise both the auxiliary peep sight and the target assembly are used. The auxiliary peep sight is moved b the instructor so that the eye is brought 1nto the line of, sight. The auxiliary peep si ht is then fixed in the line of sight. The disc is then moved into the line of sight by means of the forked member. The sights of the rifle and the line then present a correct and normal appearance for study b the soldier.

Thir sighting exercise: Instruction in uniformity in sighting. The purpose of this exercise is to demonstratelto the soldier that in order to take an accurate sight it is necessary to hold the eye steadily n the line of sight while he brings the point of aim to the point of sight. In this exercise the target assembly is used. The auxiliary peep sight is not used. The soldier looks over the rifle sights and brings the disc to the point of aim three successive times making in general three oints, called the triangle of sighting, t e size of which trian le is indicative of the uniformity of sig ting.

In addition to the foregoing exercises the soldier may be taught the efl'ect, on the target, of various movements and positions of the rifle, and of the rifle sights which the relative positions of the line of aim and the line of si ht, as for instance: changes in'setting of t e rear sight of the rifle for windage and elevation, the rifle, trig er s ueeze, worn or bent or loose rifle s1 Tits, inching or closing eye at moment 0 firing. For this purpose the miniature target 19 proportional in size to the actual target is convenient. The miniature target is so placed on the back face of the target board that the center of the bull is at the point of si ht as indicated by the marker. Tf now, for exam la, the setting of the rear sight be change te adjust for windage, the disc when brouht to the new point of sight will be in a diterent position which is consequent upon, and determined by the change in the setting of the rear sight.

T claim:

'1. A si hting drill device, including a rest, a ri e provided with front and rear sights rigidly secured to the rest, an adjustable pe'ep sight mounted to be brought to canting of I peep hole is brought into the line of sight. I

Mitt

position in. the rear of the rear sight, an

adjustable reflector positioned in front of the rifle, a target board immovable with respect to the rest and in (position to be reboard and amarker movable in unison with the disc and over the tar et.

2. A sighting drill evice, including a rest, means for securing a rifle rovided with sights rigidly to the rest, an a justable peep sight through which the rifle s1 hts may be viewed, atar et board 'connecte to the rest, a disc movab e over the front face of the tar et board, a marker connected to the disc an movable in unison therewith over the rear face of the target board and a reflector for reflecting rays of light from'the target over the rest.

3. A sighting drill device, including a rest,'means for securin a rifle ri idly to the rest, a target boar connector? to the rest and immovable with respect thereto, a disc movable over the front face of the target board, a marker connected to the disc and movable over the rear face of the tar et board and in unison with the disc and a reflector for reflecting rays of light from the tar et board over the rest.

4. A sighting drill device, including a rest, means for securing a fire arm rigidly on the rest, a movable disc under control of the operator, and means connected to the disc and movable therewith for marking relative positions of the disc.

5. A sighting drill device including a rest, means for seeurin a' fire arm rigidly to the rest, a movable 'isc under control of the operator, while sighting the fire arm in position to be viewed over the rest and means for marking successive settings of the disc.

6. A sighting drill device, including a rest,- means for securing a fire arm rigidly on the rest, a target board adjacent the rest and immovable with respect thereto, a disk movable over the board, and a marker movable in unison with the-disk.

7. A sighting drill device, including a rest, means for securing a fire arm rigidly on the rest, an adjustable peep sight ada ted to be brought to position to the rear 0 the sights of the fire arm, a movable disk to be viewed over the sights, and a marker movable in unison with the disk.

8. A sighting drill device, including a fire arm, equipped with front and rear sights, and an universally adjustable peep sight adapted to be brought to position to the rear of the si hts.

9. A sighting drill device, including a rest, means for securing a fire arm rigidly on the rest, a target board adjacent the rest and immovable with respect thereto, a universally adjustable peep sight adapted to be brought to position to the-rear of the sights of the fire arm, whereby the eye may be brou ht into the line of sight, and a disk mova le over the target board whereby the line of sight and line of aim may be brought into coincidence.

10. A sighting drill device, including a rest, means for securing a fire arm rigidl on the rest, said fire arm equipped wit front and rear sights, and universally adjustable means adapted to be brou ht to position to the rear of the sights w ereby the eye may be positioned in the line of sight.

JOHN G. WINTER. f 

